


Garden of Roses

by NightingalesAndHandGrenades (NightingalesAndLions)



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, The boys included in the start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-10-24 08:30:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10737966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightingalesAndLions/pseuds/NightingalesAndHandGrenades
Summary: After a long and shaky start, Joe Liebgott and David Webster are trying to settle down. Webster works for the Wall Street Journal and Joe becomes a police officer.They move to a quiet place of their own in New York after a tragedy strikes and changes their lives forever.





	1. Silent Streets

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything, this is just a work of fiction born out of love. I don't earn any money from this.  
> Thank you to my fellow BoB fans for encouraging me to write this.

They meet in high school. David has moved schools again, and this time he is used to being the new guy. The school itself is nothing extra ordinary, really. A building of indescribable colour, a parking lot filled with cars of the students and faculty, a few sad looking flower beds. Nothing that would catch David’s interest. He has stopped caring about the new school, the new parking lot and the new cafeteria. Herricks is a good school, but David is still the new guy. 

He talks to a receptionist who is way too nice, and gets his classroom list. It is way too complicated, so he stops for a moment trying to figure it out.

‘’Hey! You’re our new kid, right?’’ Webster is pulled out of his thoughts by a sudden voice behind him.

He raises his eyes and comes face to face with a boy his own age (or so he thinks) with sandy blond hair and sparkling eyes. His arm is hooked around the shoulders of a dark haired boy who tilts his head waiting for David to stop gawking and answer the question.

‘’Yeah, yeah sorry,’’ he says, raking fingers through his hair. ‘’David Webster’’.

‘’Cool, David Webster. I’m Skip and this is Penkala. Are you looking for Lit class?’’

Webster nods and gets pulled to the said class by the both enthusiasts. He gets a seat between Skip and a red haired boy who introduced himself as Don Malarkey and winks at Webster.

Thankfully there is only a brief introduction carried out by their teacher, and the lesson resumes its course. It also seems that Webster is the only kid who has done the summer reading. Nothing new there then. He has always fit better in with books rather than people.

During the lunch break he gets to be introduced to the rest of the gang. They all sit and eat their lunch outside, and Skip (‘’His real name is Warren, but he’s too bouncy to be a Warren,’’ Malarkey says.) tells Webster who is who.

There is a big bunch of boys both his age and older. Webster thinks he likes them. Really, he does. Other than being friendly, they leave David alone unless he wants to join their conversation. Then they make room and it is as if he had always been there.

Joe Liebgott sits behind him in English and Biology, and… really most of the time. He has commandeered the last desk in a corner of each class, next to Ron Speirs and Chuck Grant. Speirs is a quiet but intelligent young man who looks at everyone with a piercing glare, making most boys simply avoid him.

‘’Honestly, he once beat up a guy because he was calling a gay kid names. And the guy was bigger than Speirs too, but he just… knocked him out,’’ Malarkey shares a story when the said Ron Speirs is out of earshot.

‘’And he will kick your ass anytime, Malark,’’ Liebgott says from his spot in the sunshine where he is lazily smoking a cigarette.

Joe Liebgott doesn’t care much for rules. Most lessons David is trying to spend making notes but there is always Joe’s running commentary in the background. It’s like watching a sports game with the commentary turned really low. At first it annoys him to no end, but eventually he gets used to it.

There is something very beautiful about Joe’s face. Even when he is being loud and obnoxious and an absolute nightmare, there is an air of fierce loyalty about him. The other guys obviously like him enough, even if they tease him to no end about one thing or another.

The only problem with having Joe sitting behind him in class isn’t the usual comments or even the occasional lewd note he passes while the teachers aren’t watching.

Ever since they met and were introduced, Joe seems to have put Webster in the black list. He’s funny and even kind of sweet to Babe and Gene, he banters with Toye, Guarnere and the trio that consists of Skinny, Shifty and Smokey. And then he turns to David and it’s like he was either made of thin air, or simply wasn’t worth noticing.  
It hurts. He tries to still be nice to Joe, but it’s like the only thing the other boy can really do is either ignore him or insult him.

David has always known he’s Bisexual. He is comfortable in his own skin and his parents don’t really care much. It’s not quite an acceptance, but ignoring it is better than being disowned. David knows how easy he really has it. Most of the boys don’t care about it either.

‘’The gay is strong in us,’’ Skip says when Webster kind of blurts it out in front of a dozen boys.

‘’Screw you, Muck,’’ Guarnere jabs, but there is no real heat in his words.

‘’Oh you are just jealous that our dipping pool is cooler,’’ Malarkey throws back and sneaks an arm around Skip and Penkala.  
Skip’s grin is almost illegal.

Webster ends up laughing so hard he has tears running down his cheeks. 

‘’Seriously, Web, don’t sweat it. Live and let live, yes?’’

And that is how they close the topic. Webster is grateful and promises himself he’s never going to take it for granted. 

The only shadow in the almost idyllic first couple of weeks is Liebgott. 

‘’What’s with him?’’ he once asks Lewis Nixon, an older boy who is still part of the group even being a year older.

‘’Joe is a tough nut to crack,’’ Nixon simply says lighting a cigarette. ‘’You and I, Web, we come from money…no, let me finish...’’ he raises his hand when Webster starts to protest.

‘’We come from money and we have the smarts, and yet we are still here. Joe comes from a different background. Mom works two jobs, father has a drinking habit, and he has younger siblings. He dislikes us even if he doesn’t quite know why’’.

That’s probably the most insightful thing anyone has said to David in the couple of months he has been at the school. 

‘’He likes you, maybe a little bit too much. So it scares him, because where he comes from, even with all the 21st century bullshit, that kind of thing is not acceptable,’’ Nixon concludes, waving at Winters across the green.

So David learns to ignore the pain he feels every time Joe ignores him. He does start responding to some of the silly notes in class. He has started to cherish these little snippets, because for the first time in a long time he really feels like he belongs. It is a weird feeling, but he holds onto it.

Six months later he gathers up the nerve to ask Joe out on a date. He doesn’t call it a date, though. He just invites Joe over to his Aunt’s house to study for a test the next day.

‘’I fell in love with you that day,’’ Joe later will say. ‘’That was what sealed the deal. You started to answer my notes in class’’.

Webster laughs. 

The whole high school experience was not the most rosy for either of them. He clearly remembers the day when Joe came to school with a black eye, broken wrist and a cracked rib. It still makes him shudder. 

He doesn’t talk to anybody much that day, but there is still a silly note on Webster’s desk when they get back from lunch between a double English classes. He offers Joe a smile, and fights down the anger at the world and mostly at Joe’s father. Joe doesn’t return the smile and that hurts. 

They fight that day. Joe is closed off, nursing his injuries and all David’s attempts get shut down with one word answers. Joe leaves after the next class and skips the rest of them. He appears on David’s doorstep with a backpack. 

The boys had put their heads together to try and find a solution. Webster doesn’t even think. He invited Joe to stay at his Aunt’s house. Indefinitely.

‘’I live with her because my parents are either travelling or they are at their house. But it’s too far from the school, so I live with my Aunt. She doesn’t mind’’.  
He remembers sitting on the bedroom floor that evening with Joe’s belongings in the corner glaring at them. 

Something in Joe had changed that day. It was like something was broken, but Joe had locked that part of him away. He puts a new found care and effort in schoolwork. 

They don’t talk about what happened. 

It takes him three months to allow Webster to touch him.


	2. How We Ended Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life after school has its ups and downs, but they make it work.

While David is in Harvard studying literature, Joe becomes a police officer. They talk every day and see each other on weekends and on breaks. It is a completely new experience. They move in together when Webster lands a job with Wall Street Journal. He loves writing and his job is exactly what David needs to make something of himself.

Joe is as stubborn as ever, and Webster worries about him constantly. He respects Joe’s choice of profession though. It seems to satisfy some of the dark parts of his boyfriend and Webster learns to live with it.

There are those evening when Joe will not come to bed after a tough shift at work, and sit and drink by himself. He doesn’t allow David to comfort him. He yells at Webster to get out.

When David leaves for work the next morning, Joe is asleep on the couch in the living room. He takes the empty bottle and throws it into the recycling, and leaves a fresh pot of coffee for Joe. It has been one of the bad days.

Somewhere deep down David has always known. Somehow, he has always known that there is a part of Joe that gets locked away and only raises his head occasionally. He prefers not to be there on those occasions, opting rather for staying at the office or teaching a class in a university, grading papers or going to the aquarium.

For Joe those days are as agonizing as they are for Webster.

‘’One of these days,’’ Toye says to him when they are both sitting in a bar having a beer, ‘’one of these days he will get sick and tired of you being an asshole to him when this happens. He will walk away.’’

‘’Joe, stop it,’’ Luz reprimands his boyfriend.

Luz and Toye started dating when Toye and Joe were both in the academy. It’s kind of funny that they both ended being cops, but Joe doesn’t mind. At least it’s a familiar face on the force. One day they will both be carrying that Detective badge too. 

‘’No, no, he’s got a point, George,’’ Liebgott says. 

He knows David puts up with a lot of shit from him. Webster is a smart man, he has the looks and the money to walk away. He could land a book deal one of these days and decide that Joe is too heavy of a ball and chain to keep lugging around. He has tried talking to Webster about it, but the other man always shuts down this kind of conversation. Joe hates himself for wishing that David wasn’t there sometimes. 

But most of the time they are happy. They banter with friends, they talk about Joe’s work and David’s writing. Webster buys books and always picks up the latest comic book issue for Joe. He doesn’t mind listening to Joe talk about them, because it means that Lieb is in a good place. He is happy.

Sometimes when Joe comes home, he finds David sitting outside their apartment building with a little girl who lives with her mother a floor below them. She is blonde and cute and Webster adores her. He watches her when her mother needs a night off or when she gets stuck in a job. 

Her name is Hannah, and she adores Webster. He helps her with schoolwork and never minds playing with her dolls. He might forget to eat but he never forgets to pick Hannah up from school or put her to bed, or her birthday. It makes Joe very proud of his boyfriend, it makes him love David even more, but it also makes him see what Webster is missing out on.

‘’You’d be a great dad,’’ he once says after Hannah’s mother has picked the girl up from their apartment. 

‘’Thanks. You’d be a great dad too,’’ David says not really thinking about it, but he freezes when he sees the look on Joe’s face.

‘’Don’t ever say that again,’’ he hisses between clenched teeth and doesn’t allow Webster to reach out for him. He needs to think, he needs to get out and this place suddenly seems suffocating him. He grabs his keys, his coat and heads out.

That evening ends up being a bad one. Joe doesn’t come home, but Bill texts Webster that he’s staying over at Joe and George’s place. 

_We’ll take care of him. Don’t worry._  
_Thanks, Bill, I owe you one._  
_Liebgott owes me a date with Fran I’m currently not on, so you don’t worry one bit_  
_It’s not really his fault, I just said something stupid_  
_Yes, yes it is his fault._

Webster doesn’t respond to that. He wants to throw up, he wants to cry, but most of all he wants Joe. He wants to be able to understand. Some little part of him reminds him that sometimes it’s better to not know everything.

Both Joe and George text him to reassure him that Liebgott is actually all right and is safely getting drunk with them. 

David is a little bit of a zombie the next day when he leaves for work, but he still takes Hannah from school and helps her with homework. If it is possible, just falls in love with her more.

He doesn’t mention anything like that to Joe again, but it stays at the back of his mind. He also knows that Joe is what he wants. And if he cannot have kids with the man, then so be it. There are enough kids in this world already.

‘’He’s like a goddamn saint,’’ Guarnere once muses, smoking a cigarette on their balcony, watching Webster play with the kids from the neighbourhood.

‘’Tell me about it,’’ Liebgott agrees, smiling at his boyfriend down on the street. ‘’Even the local gang kids like him. It’s like he just flutters those eyelashes and they come running. Don’t know what he does or how it works, but it does. They won’t leave the gangs, but the crime rate goes down for a few hours every day’’.

‘’Fucking Webster and his blue eyes’’.

‘’A little bit of incentive money, better grades, and he plays basketball with them,’’ Toye joins in.

They don’t live in a posh neighbourhood, but it’s no projects either. Their apartment is reasonably big for the price they’re paying. Liebgott has refused to move to something bigger. Not until he can afford to pay at least half of the rent and buy food at least twice a month.

It’s a pride thing. David has savings from his trust fund, but Joe refuses to touch Webster’s money. He wants to be able to afford things for himself and his mother and sisters. David sneaks some cash in the regular envelope Joe takes to his mom. He earns enough as a writer for the WSJ now, and could afford a better place. But that would mean he couldn’t volunteer in the local education centre for kids and would have to stop looking after Hannah. 

Maybe one day, but not quite yet. Perhaps one day Joe would be able to look at kids and see family of his own. David doesn’t bring it up with Joe, but he writes it down in his diary. He writes about everything. His life, Joe, his work, the kids. Hannah stays his favourite though.

‘’I’m sorry I seem to be stealing her all the time,’’ he once apologizes to the girl’s mother who waves him off. 

‘’Don’t be silly. You are a huge help. I can work a couple more hours and we don’t have to worry about paying bills. You feed her too when she is there and I know she is safe with you, because Joe is a police officer and you won’t look away from her even for a second’’.

Hannah is a smart girl. She knows David is not going to become her daddy, and she likes Joe a lot too. He is nice to David and he brings her a chocolate every now and then. He never seems disappointed to see her in their apartment, and he never asks her to leave before mommy comes to get her or it’s time to go home. Joe allows her to borrow his comic books.

They have a fantastic friendship, all three of them. She knows that David is sometimes very sad. She can see it in his eyes, so she always gives him an extra hug. She sometimes is sad too, so she knows how that feels. 

Joe doesn’t use big words, voicing his feelings has never been easy for him. He used to say a lot of hurtful things before he learned to find other ways to express is feelings. He remembers the first time David said he loved Joe. It was also the first time Joe could stand the other boy’s touch on his skin. 

He remembers the first time they made love. How David kissed every inch of Joe’s body, how he let Joe do whatever he wanted. Nobody had showed that kind of trust to him before, and Joe had promised himself to never take it for granted. He doesn’t much believe in God anymore, but his Ma always said that even if you don’t believe, don’t spit in His face. That is probably the most valuable lesson he has taken away from the temple going days.

That night David told Joe he loved the other boy. He remembers how awestruck and speechless he was. He couldn’t say it back. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but they wouldn’t come out no matter what. Webster had reassured him that it didn’t matter, that he knew how Joe felt even without those three little words that were actually so big.  
He had said them to his mother and his sisters. He had once said them to his father. And he hadn’t spoken them out loud for fifteen years now. He couldn’t. He tried to show Webster in other ways. When they were together, just the two of them. 

When the sun goes down and David is still at his laptop, Joe rubs his shoulders to remind him that it’s time to call it a day. Sometimes he cooks, sometimes he brings takeaway and sometimes they cook together. He loves those quiet moments when he can sneak his arms around Web’s waist and just hold him while the life goes on outside. 

If his day has been especially tiring, he’ll text Webster and they will order pizza, drink beer and watch a movie or marathon a TV show until either one or both of them falls asleep. He loves going to bed with Webster, feeling David’s skin on his own. It’s comforting to wake up in the middle of the night and feel that David has pulled him close, one leg between Joe’s legs and mouthing the junction of his neck and shoulder. 

He loves making Webster fall apart under his mouth and his hands. There is nothing more beautiful than his lover in the throes of passion, moaning Joe’s name like it’s a sacrament. 

Everything Joe does is to say ‘I love you’ and David understands. That’s one of the things that make him a remarkable man. 

Joe’s career is going upwards too. He’s a hard worker and he cares about his job, so putting in extra hours and training doesn’t seem like a chore at all. It is a rewarding process, and it allows him to have a piece of mind.

He goes out with the boys once a week. They go to a bar and have a drink, talk about everything and nothing, catch up. Lewis and Dick occasionally join them, but it’s tight, since they live in New Jersey and have a dog. He has a photo they took on the day they all graduated from high school. So much has changed and yet so little.

Toye works with him at the precinct. Bill ended up becoming a fireman, so they see each other quite often. 

Dick ended up with a business degree and works at Lew’s dad’s firm in New Jersey where Lewis is probably just annoying the other man to no end.

Gene ended up in med school with Spina. He has started his internship at the Presbyterian University Hospital and Spina works as a Medical Examiner. 

Carwood, Luz and Babe have gone into teaching the next generation of rugrats in their old school. They seem to love it and the kids, no doubt, love them in return. Especially when Ron pops in to visit.

Ron Speirs works with Buck at the District Attorney's office and oversees everything to do with Sing Sing. So when he has time to have lunch with Carwood, kids surround him just because he is so cool. Older kids love him because of the same reason, but Ron is also a tough guy and they identify with that.

It seems that most of them stay close, mostly because… well it just happens. Joe has stopped trying to figure it out. Most of them would take opportunities somewhere else if they arrived, but so fat fate has stuck them close to one another.

Liebgott takes comfort in these Friday evenings when he can just sit in a bar somewhere in the city and talk about crap. David sometimes comes with him, but most of the time he is either still at work, or just working from home. More than once Joe has come home to shower before going out and found Webster fast asleep. He just pulls the covers higher, kisses him and lets the other man sleep.

‘’You know he’s lying to you when he says he has work to do,’’ Ron once says, and Joe’s head whips around, eyes big.

‘’What?’’ 

‘’Most of the time he’ll tell you that… he will stay the extra hours even if he is exhausted. And afterwards he will either go to bed or the aquarium’’.

‘’How do you of all people… oh, Carwood…’’

‘’They talk sometimes, you know. I think out of all of us, Carwood and Dick are probably the ones David talks to most’’ Ron muses, throwing back his shot and nodding to the bartender for another one.

Joe asks Webster if he wants to go out with the people from the WSJ, but David just shrugs for a declining answer and turns back to the manuscript he’s working in. It’s not quite the answer he wants to hear, so next time he sees Forrest Guth who works as a freelance photographer and often with Webster, he asks about it.

‘’Oh, he, um, he don’t go out much, really. He never comes to anything the office does… but then again I don’t think he fits quite right in. I mean he’s a smart guy and his writing is good, but I think he’d rather work at the aquarium than at the WSJ’’.

‘’I’m content where I am, Joe. I’ll just go see the sharks for a little bit if I need to clear my head,’’ David says next time Joe asks him.

‘’I just want…’’ Joe says, but David just shuts him up by sealing his mouth over Joe’s.

They end up having sex on the kitchen table, on the living room floor and only afterwards they make it to their bed.

‘’I have everything I need and could ever ask for, Joe,’’ Webster later says, his head pillowed on Joe’s chest, his fingers drawing lazy patterns on Liebgott’s skin. ‘’One day maybe we’ll buy a house in the countryside and I will write and you’ll be the local sheriff. Or maybe you’ll be the fancy Detective…longer commute, but perks…’’

Joe grins at that. He can imagine that. 

‘’You’d make a good housewife, I can see that…’’ he says and Webster laughs at that.

‘’Totally. Wear an apron for you and everything,’’ 

‘’Now that I can imagine no problem’’.

‘’That’s because you’re a kinky son of a bitch, Joe Liebgott’’.

‘’And that is exactly the reason you love me, college boy,’’ Joe says, arms tightening around Webster’s warm body.

He knows he’s lucky. Both of them are. This life has been good to them, really good. In his line of work Joe sees the best and the worst of any society. He sees where the beauty ends and the true evil starts, but he tries not to bring it home. Otherwise it’s simply too much.

Dealing with hate every day is only easy if he can wash it off when he gets home, slip into something comfortable and forget that the day has existed at all. He likes listening to David rambling on about his day, about working with kids, about Hannah. He teases Web mercilessly, and howls with laughter if he manages to make David blush about this thing or another. 

The next day he can go to work and start the run in the hamster wheel again. Some days are a victory, some days are a loss. He cherishes all of them, because he is doing something to help someone. It is his duty to do something, he can’t just stand still and look on. It would drive him crazy.

Sometimes he looks at himself in their bathroom mirror after shower. He listens to the comforting sound of David’s soft snoring and counts the scars. There is twenty two altogether. Some of them are more faded than others and being a cop has added some, but he always can count the twenty two. Even under his tattoos he counts them and then looks into his own eyes.

Never again.

He promised himself that night when Webster took him in. He would never again allow anybody to touch him that way. He would do anything in his power to prevent it. He hates how much he looks like his father. He hates how little of his mother’s beautiful features he sees. 

‘’I’m nothing like him,’’ Joe tells his own refection, and sometimes he thinks the reflection is mocking him.

Never ever again.


	3. They All Fall Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Joe and Web know they need a break. This is probably exactly the way to do it - go out of the city, camp and roast marshmallows with the boys.

Joe gets promoted, they celebrate, and Webster gets a pay rise. He talks to Joe about writing a book about sharks, and Joe teases him mercilessly. 

‘’You would become a recluse and live on a boat, Web,’’ he says, nudging his boyfriend’s side, and laughs when Webster blushes an attractive shade of pink.

‘’Maybe… but you would probably die of boredom and lack of beer…’’

He laughs at that, and promises that they could save up and buy a little cabin somewhere outside of the city. Al the boys could come for a weekend or they could sneak off for a bit. To change the scenery every now and then. It sounds like a great plan.

They have a row. About this, that or the other. Maybe it’s about David’s insecurities where life and Joe and work are concerned. He has never lost it, that insecurity about how good he is. Joe is not a man of many words, so he doesn’t quite always know how to reassure him. To be honest, Webster doesn’t do it either.

Both end up leaving without breakfast that day, and it’s always been their little ritual together. Eat breakfast, go to work and have dinner together when possible. It’s how they connect to each other after a long day.

‘’We’ll get out of town this weekend, ok?’’ Joe offers when they are sitting on a park bench drinking coffee.

‘’Yeah, that would be good,’’ David agrees before adding, ‘’could invite the boys and do a camp-out’’.

Joe looks at him in disbelief. Webster hasn’t really suggested anything like this since they were at school. He has been too busy, too concerned about deadlines and other things, so this is new.

‘’I thought about what you said, and I think I have been a terrible recluse. Not the best boyfriend material, really,’’ he says, voice quiet and hesitant.

Joe smiles and squeezes Web’s hand.

‘’Nah, you’re fine. You know you don’t have to do it if you don’t really want to. I would hate if you had rotten time because you never wanted to be there in the first place’’.

‘’Thanks, Joe. I want to. I think I need to get out and re-organize both my head and my priorities. Besides, I haven’t seen Lip in forever, and Ron is a poor substitute’’.

Liebgott throws his head back and howls with laughter. Speirs is going to love that one. He appreciates David’s incentive. He loves the young man, but a change of pace, Joe 

thinks, will do both of them good. Maybe they could actually talk. It’s been a while since Joe has openly and honestly talked to anybody about anything, really. Oh, they talk about this and that and share what has happened during the day, but he knows that’s not the kind of talking that needs to happen.

Joe feels that some of the things they have gone through come directly from his inability to admit to himself that past does catch up with you. He has actively dismissed David’s concerns more than once, but he can’t really help himself. The need to protect what’s his is stronger. And all the experience he’s had in life is his baggage. Joe’s mind keeps telling him that sharing that would really make it easier and better for both of them. Maybe it’s time.

They finish coffee and Joe steals a kiss before they both return to work. He has paperwork to do and no matter how long he delays it, it is not going to go away. 

So when David gets back from work, he has calmed down, is no longer angry. It has helped him to realize how much he actually wants to go somewhere outside the city limits and disconnect. He doesn’t want his phone to ring for two or three days, and he doesn’t want to hear Joe’s phone ring either.

Lip and George have already agreed to come, and Web knows that their respective others will agree too. Maybe Babe and Doc would like to come, so David makes a mental note to call them once he gets home.

It’s pushing half past three when Webster steps out of the bus on the corner and he fiddles to find his keys. He has texted Joe, they have been for lunch together. He has apologised. 

He reaches their building when the world turns upside down. The door bursts open and there is suddenly loud yelling and then he hears something that sounds like fireworks, only Webster has been around Joe long enough to know that there is no way those are fireworks. Gun shots. One, two, three, and he doesn’t even manage to whip out his phone to call the police before he hears the sirens, and dimply by instinct he head towards the noise. First floor, left, then another left and the next moments seem to almost slide by as if he was in a movie.

A door of a flat bursts open and Webster suddenly finds himself at a gunpoint. The world seems to narrow itself down and he hears his own pulse as if it was played to him by a giant bell. One of the gunmen is heading out and only when his brain thinks it is no longer in danger he allows himself to move inside the flat.

There is so much blood, and he feels his heart beat even louder if that is even possible. Inside the flat is complete carnage, the place has been turned upside down, and Webster doesn’t want to really keep going, but his feet are working on their own, really. 

The scene before his eyes is horrifying. There is a body on the floor and David hears his own vocal cords letting out a noise that doesn’t sound human to his own ears anymore.  
That is when the rest of his world fades away, and he vaguely hears his own voice letting out a noise that is not quite human and white hot pain in his leg before everything fades into nothingness.


	4. Demons run

Liebgott is halfway across the city when his car gets a call over the radio. He would have left it to the uniforms, but once he hears the address, Joe’s blood runs cold. He looks at his partner and hits the gas with the lights and sirens. He prays to every single god he can, hoping that the dread he feels creeping along his spine. He digs out his phone and passes it to his partner. 

‘’Call David,’’ he snarls and doesn’t even listen to his partner’s objections.

He needs to know that David is safe, oblivious to the sirens and police officers descending onto their home. Well, it’s not only their home, Joe knows that, but at this point, he just wants to know that David is safe, stuck in the transport or in a library somewhere. Joe prays he’s gone to the aquarium. 

Webster’s phone is dreadfully silent and Joe convinces himself that Web has switched it off because he hates being interrupted, and that he will text as soon as he can.  
There are ambulance and police cars at the scene already and uniforms are swarming the place like ants.

Joe gets out and tries to pinpoint someone from the department he recognizes. It takes him two seconds to notice a uniform he’s seen before.

‘’What have we got?’’ he asks in a hurry, ready to go in.

‘’Three suspects, breaking and entering,’’ the uniform says, but gets interrupted by Joe’s captain who walks out of the building.

He doesn’t even ask why the captain is there. His brain doesn’t ask logical question at this point in time.

‘’Liebgott. We tried to reach you,’’ the captain looks grey around the edges and he stops Joe from going inside.

‘’What is going on?’’

‘’Maybe you should sit…’

‘’Sir, tell me what the fuck is going on!’’ he growls.

‘’We have eliminated all three suspects. Three men entered the building earlier today. Apparently one of them knew one of the tenants. A Miss Rita Allan…’’

‘’Oh my god…are they...’’

‘’You know them’’

‘’We’re neighbours. I don’t know much about her, but David adores her daughter Hannah’’.

‘’I’m afraid they were both found dead…’’

Joe tries to get inside but the captain’s hold on him is stronger. There is an inhuman whine climbing up through Joe’s throat, and he looks his captain in the eye, clearly knowing that that is definitely not the end of the story.

‘’David is in the Presbyterian University Hospital, Joe. He was shot’’.

Liebgott feels his earth fade away. He doesn’t faint, but the captain motions a paramedic over anyway and Joe is guided to sit down.

‘’He was shot by one of the perps. Apparently, David was home early, ran into two of them but we think the third guy must have still been in the building when Webster arrived. Joe…we think David found Rita and Hannah, and because was a supposed eyewitness, the guy shot him…’’

‘’Is he…’’ Liebgott is truly too afraid to even utter the words, and there is bile rising through his throat. He is definitely going to be sick.

‘’He will be fine. It was a through and through. David managed to tackle the guy to the ground and he hit his head, knocked himself out before the uniforms burst through the door. Joe… the scene is a mess’’.

‘’I need to go see him,’’ Joe says, before he needs to bend over and throw up his lunch.

‘’I’ll take you. There is nothing you can do here at the moment, and I have given the case to Toye’’.

Liebgott doesn’t have the strength to argue. His hands are shaking, as he accepts the tissue and a bottle of water from the paramedic. Joe has never been this scared. Not on the job, not before that. He doesn’t even think to say that Toye shouldn’t have to deal with this. Captain’s hand is firm on his, and Joe just follows.

David is going to be fine, his brain supplies. He will be fine, he has to be fine.

Liebgott can’t imagine his life without the other man. There is no other life. They’re attached to the hip. He never proposed. He wanted to propose so long. There is a ring sitting in the bottom drawer of his desk at work, but he never really got around to it. The right moment hadn’t quite arrived. He wanted to propose to David in the aquarium. Do the whole shebang…

The drive to the hospital is quiet, but Liebgott couldn’t speak even if he really wanted to. He feels a lump in his throat, his hands are shaking too bad and he knows he’s sweating. The white, hot panic has subsided, but the worry is not going anywhere. Not until he sees his boy.

He takes off running before the car is even fully stopped and stops only when he reaches the staff desk. 

‘’David Webster’’ he manages to get out.

‘’And you are..?’’ the nurse looks at him suspicious of his look.

‘’His partner. Joe’s David’s partner, Briana,’’ Liebgott hears Gene’s voice behind him, and he could honestly kiss the man.

‘’Gene!’’ 

‘’Come with me, OK?’’ Roe says, firmly grasping Joe’s arm and Liebgott has no other choice but to follow the other man.

He trusts Gene, and when the other man trusts a can of coke in his hand, he obediently drinks it.

‘’Drink all of it. It will get you some sugar and some fluids to calm your nerves and keep you upright,’’ Gene says, guiding Joe to sit down and sits beside him. ‘’David is still in surgery and I will ask a nurse to come get you when he gets out. It was a clean shot, so physically he will be fine after some recovery time’’.

‘’Thank you,’’ Joe mutters and Gene has to apologize as he has patients to see, and Joe is left alone.

He is calmer now, but his hands are still shaking. Joe’s understanding of time is not working properly, so he doesn’t know how long he sits there. Gene’s quick thinking and offering Joe a drink has worked somewhat, but he thinks something stronger is in order. 

‘’Hey,’’ a familiar voice interrupts Joe’s thoughts and he looks up to see Toye standing there.

His friend is pale and looks worried, but he doesn’t hesitate to pull Liebgott in a hug. Joe Toye is not an overly emotional person. He’s not one for hugs, that’s more Luz’s cup of tea, but this is a different occasion.

‘’How are you doing, man?’’ Joe asks, sitting down with Liebgott.

‘’I don’t know. David’s still under and I don’t think the realization has quite kicked in yet,’’ Joe analyses his own feelings as if he was a case study in a lab.

‘’Captain gave me the case, and I just wanted to give you the heads up and see how… Web will be OK, right?’’

‘’So far that’s the prognosis’’.

‘’He’s a fighter, Joe. Just think about all the arguments you’ve had with him. Someone who isn’t going to fight the odds…isn’t going to behave the way Web does’’.  
It makes Joe smile and he nods. 

‘’I will have to interview him at some point, Joe,’’ Toye says, growing serious. ‘’He is at the moment the only eyewitness we have. I will hold it off as long as I can, but you have to be prepared that he might need to testify if it comes to that’’.

‘’He’ll love that idea,’’ Liebgott mutters. ‘’You know how he hates being put in the spotlight. I can’t even imagine what he found there…’’.

This is the first moment when Joe actually gives the possible scene in front of his lover any thought, and it hits home so hard, it actually leaves him gasping for breath. David would have found little Hannah’s body… oh fuck, he will be heartbroken once he gets over the initial shock.

‘’Can you give me any information, Joe? Anything I can go on with…’’ Toye probes, cautiously, and Joe schools his features and thinks.

‘’I don’t know much about them. Rita worked at the diner to earn a living and we looked after Hannah occasionally. I don’t know if they have family…I certainly don’t know anything about Hannah’s father. Rita never mentioned him, and as far as I know, David is the only positive male figure in her…I suppose I should say was…’’ he stops to swallow the lump in his throat.

Despite appearances and the usual gruff response, Liebgott had adored Hannah. She was a ball of energy and did remind him of David when they were at school. Moving around like seaweed, exploring, intuitive and clever. 

‘’I used to joke that Hannah could be David’s kid….they were so alike, you know’’.

‘’I remember Web from school, yeah, I know…’’ Joe nods and scribbles a couple of things down. ‘’Do you want me to call someone before I head back to work?’’

‘’I don’t know… I suppose the usual circle… if they haven’t heard by now… ‘’

Joe squeezes his shoulder and stands up. He wants nothing more than to stay with Liebgott until they get news or someone else from their little circle of friends arrives, but there is also the pressing matter of a murder investigation.

‘’I’ll be fine, Joe. You go get those bastards’’.

There are no news about David for another hour, but at last Gene comes to get him to introduce Joe to David’s surgeon. 

‘’Mr. Liebgott, I’m Doctor Callahan. None of David’s injuries are life threatening, but he will be out for a little bit. The recovery should be pretty straight forward, just take it easy. I’ll take you to see him now. Mind, no more than two visitors at a time’’.

‘’Thank you, Doctor,’’ Joe nods and follows both men to a ward.

Webster is hooked up to machines and there is a tube down his throat. It makes Joe cringe, but at least the steady beeping of the heart monitor is reassuring. 

‘’He looks rough around the edges, but he should be healing nicely. He will most likely sleep through the night, so you should go home and come back tomorrow,’’ Callahan says, and Joe looks at the man sharply.

‘’I think you will have to use a crowbar to peel Joe away from Web, Tom, but thanks,’’ Gene says and Callahan chuckles. 

He talks Joe through the details of the surgery, recovery and various other bits, and then bids them good night. Gene leaves soon after with a firm squeeze on Joe’s shoulder.  
It’s another waiting game for Liebgott, but at least he can reach out and squeeze David’s hand and that’s fine. They will most likely be invaded by friends, but for now it’s just the two of them.


End file.
